Untameable and fiercely independent, the Faroese landscape and community culture is an incubator for a truly unforgettable festival experience.
Resilience is the name of the game for everyone involved in G! Festival. Local grandmas were baking cakes for the builders rapidly assembling the stage the day before the festival started, in the wake of an unprecedented storm. With 43 heavily delayed flights into Vágar Airport, there was already a strong sense of solidarity hitting the floor on the Faroes: a refreshing sight after a 20 hour journey. One of the most remote populations, the Faroese people refused to be defeated by even the most unpredictable weather, and thus so did we; beckoned forth by the steaming beachside hot tubs.
Sigvør Iáska, the former lead organiser and ‘mother’ of the festival says it was almost like starting a new festival from scratch in 2022, but the support from the residents of Gøta in building both the infrastructure and spirit of the festival is what holds together G! Festival each year. The stage was finished only hours before the first act was set to hit the stage on Thursday, after being knocked down by a storm earlier in the week.
What distinguishes G! From so many European festivals is this resounding community ethos. Welcoming over 5,000 people into the 400-person town, tents are set up all around the land of the town and houses become open to a global audience. If you’re looking for a strong, grassroots led, anti-consumerist festival then G! Fest will not disappoint. Children are picking up cups on the beach, waving their fists to heavy metal (while wearing ear guards, don’t worry), the residents of Gøta open up their homes to provide accommodation for the festival goers. The moonlike beauty of the landscape stamps out any human fantasy of complete dominion over the misty Fjords, cloaking the festival with undeniable romance.
Whilst the otherworldly location is a huge pull for the festival, the residents have to weather the eternal twilight in the summer and perpetual night in the winter. The weather forecast stated that night was ‘not for this day’, proven by the cloudy, evening-like light which still lingers at two in the morning.
"Many artists say landscape is the base of their music, the Faroese music is melancholic, slow, up and down, dark and light, just like the weather" Signør jokes. Maybe this explains the strong presence of melancholic, wistful music on show at G! Festival, with Jose Gonzales hitting the Sandurin main stage on a crisp Friday evening. There were four stages this year: Sandurin and the smaller Grundin on the beach, Spæliplássið by the playground, and Fjósið in a concrete warehouse covered in wall decorations. Bars were everywhere, there was a good selection of food options for everyone (and free fish on Friday afternoon if you’re a fish eater!).
Grounded in the Faroese culture is the necessity of making music, Sigvør states: "You learn to live in the dark, to embrace the dark, you don’t go out much, there are no restraints or bars, you sit and play music". The proof is in the pudding, and the Faroe label Tutl releases 40 albums a year, touting over 1000 releases in its 45 year lifespan. Run by Kristian Blatt, himself an inventive composer, Tutl is the name of both the record shop and label in Tórshavn, one of the world’s smallest capitals. Tutl in Faroese meaning the ‘rippling of water on the surface of a river’ or whispering between people.
The culture, too, seems to move as one body of water, interrelated and each member of a band freely collaborating across genres and influences. Cloud-rap Marius DC and the quirky æðrasoppar both join Joe & The Shitboys on stage, with members of æðrasoppar supporting lo-fi artist Marianna Winter’s syrupy vocals. But whilst Tutl, Blatt says, means in Icelandic "milking the last drop of milk from a cow", the ethos of Tutl the label couldn’t be more remote. Artists have freedom and accessible funding from the Government and local businesses (such as the fish factory) to pioneer their musical projects, and Faroese music culture seems to thrive precisely because of this support.
It’s easy to sing the praises of the distinct community-led, anti-commercial, anti-growth stance of G! Festival, Faroese culture at large isn’t quite so radical. The dark underbelly of Faroese culture is its heavy conservatism: Joe & The Shitboys recently described the local music scene as rife with homophobia and misogyny. You can understand their frustration, the fierce independence of the Faroe Islands has led to a fossilisation of some pretty unusual cultural practices. For example, I didn’t expect every third conversation with the locals to morph into guerrilla moral philosophy of whale-eating.
This aside, Joe & the Shitboys catapulted onto the Spæliplássið stage at sunset giving a hot shock of energy, hitting the crowd as with electric, hypermobile dexterity. Billed as the ‘queer vegan shitpunk band’, the band are doing the crucial work of dismantling queerphobia through the uniting power of punk. Equal parts rage and love, Joe commanded the crowd from the get go, blasting into the Shitboy theme and corralling an incensed moshpit right to the end of the show. The crowd matched the shitboys in their radical energy; in the middle of the set, a four-person polycule is locking lips. The festival transforms Gøta into a radical hub. On Friday there was a series of interdisciplinary workshops on rewinding and the natural world on the indoor Fjósið stage, a refreshingly stimulating afternoon after a long night partying away on the beach.
Pom Poko were another highlight of the Spæliplássið stage, where vocalist Ragnhild Jamtveit smashes the cow-bell to the undulating breakdowns and lilting basslines. Whilst their studio recordings emphasise Ragnhild’s airy, ethereal side, at G! she leaned further towards a more punk voicing, which got the crowd pretty excited. If you like the sound of jazz-influenced art pop fronted by an emo-boy scout bassist and a dreamy-sugargirl vocalist, this is the band for you. They played material from both Birthday and Cheater, with their lead single 'Like A Lady' leaving the audience jumping. With a whimsical mash of both visual and musical aesthetics, Pom Poko were on top form at G!.
Lucky Lo’s set also captured the hearts of the audience on the Spæliplássið stage, her grounding funky alt-pop and crystal clear voice in performing of 'Supercarry' had the audience singing the chorus twice (marking my first cry of the evening) without her even gesturing for us to join in. Lo’s songwriting is moving without being sentimental, warming but not cloying, setting the scene for a magical sunset on the final night.
As semi-darkness took root, the Sandurin stage was alight with energy on the final night during the Faroes’ ‘reigning queen’ Eivør’s set. Affectionately regarded as the Faroese Kate Bush, Eivør’s influence on Faroese music culture can’t be underestimated. Her influence stretches across the globe, yet Eivør later jokes that speaking both in English and Faroese throughout the set will garner a smirk from the Faroese locals, as if she is trying too hard be cool! Ditta; who shares her hometown Gøta with Eivør, shared with me during the set (while we both stood teary eyed) that has been following Eivør since seeing her perform in a singing competition at 13. Eivør’s set involves gong-hitting, singing in both Faroese and English, her lyrics captivating ("now I surrender, falling to the ground, I hope that you will catch me"). Her sound is distinctly mythic and witchy; 'Í Tokuni' rings out feminine divinity. Eivør’s music feels so intimately connected to the landscape through her involvement in Tutl’s inception, and her own connection to the mountains that it feels the Faroese natural world speaks through in her song. I was dripping wet and shoeless from a poorly timed dip in the sea just before Eivør’s set, and if anything the cold, wet sand and almost-dark skies added to the power of her performance, like a fire at the end of a pilgrimage.
A notable mention...the previous night, Sandurin was host to Daði Freyr, whose set though not transcendent like Eivør’s was fantastically playful. A highlight being his cover of 'All-Star': I couldn’t resist jumping in the sea at midnight. No security stopped me, the festival are very chill and have faith in the festival goers to take care of themselves which is such a welcome break from UK security.
Cutting elsewhere, and the Grundin stage was memorable for its metal performances, set further along the beach still overlooking the misty crags but in a smaller, intimate space than Sandurin. Katla, the atmospheric doom metal band played slow grooves which were almost mantra-like; it was easy to become completely immersed in a meditative state during their wonderfully sludgy set.
The most powerful performance on Grundin had to be SIC. This was their final gig after the lead vocalist took his life last year, and his 17 year-old son stood in to replace him. There was a universal feeling of solidarity in the crowd and his son did an exceptional job: the stage throbbed with raw emotion, which it felt like an honour to witness. LLNN were captivating in their late night industrial deathcore.
G! Festival was a captivating, otherworldly festival experience rooted in the Faroese wilderness, with the most interesting acts for any seasoned festivalgoer playing beyond the main stage. There’s a sense of magic in Gøta which has rapidly disappeared from most places on earth; an untouched extreme remoteness. Sigvør said: "Fog is a good thing, it leaves your thoughts very open, you can imagine more. People believed in ghosts for longer than anyone else here" and you can see why when you interact with the environment; there’s a strong sense of the otherworldly at G! Festival. And as 40 degree summers begin to capture more of the world, the Faroese cold summer escape feels like a welcome antidote.
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